[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Maybe you all saw the fundraiser Underdog Express advertised for Easter offering to “egg your yard” so that your children wake up on Easter and find eggs in their yard? This adorable idea was spearheaded by one of our devoted fosters, April Rhodes. The response to her idea was so large, she had to recruit additional help and stop accepting new orders. She had 87 yards in all to egg in the wee hours of Easter morning. As you can see from the Facebook Post, your likes and shares helped this fundraiser reach almost 23,000 people from the P.E.T.S. Facebook page alone.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”33256″ img_size=”large”][vc_column_text]At 3am, she stopped for coffee and her car was stolen. Considering Easter fell on April’s Fools Day, this story was extra unbelievable. After reporting the car stolen along with her phone and all the Easter eggs inside, April regrouped. First, she had to call LYFT for a ride home and then find more eggs and candy which was no small feat as many stores were completely out of stock. Amazingly, April pulled it off and even got her car back unharmed a few hours later. Her phone is still missing along with all of her pictures and contacts but April didn’t let a felony stop her from delivering 2485 Easter eggs.
Thank you to the Wichita Falls Police Department for finding her car so quickly. (Hint- offer a girl a ride home next time her car has been stolen at 3am.) And thank you to all of April’s friends and family that supported her. It speaks volumes about how well April is loved by the number of people that answered her call before dawn on Easter morning and joined the effort.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”33257″ img_size=”large” onclick=”link_image”][vc_column_text]We met April and her husband, Dustin, when they got married last year and asked for donations to PETS instead of wedding gifts. What!!! Then they began fostering dogs for Underdog Express and helping us save more lives. In February, April arranged a brownie fudge sundae fundraiser at Fuzzy’s Tacos, earning $3800 for Underdog Express and because she didn’t let something like a car robbery stop her, she brought in $2485 more on Easter. What a girl! She doesn’t take any credit though. Instead, she was quick to point to out the following people:
“Amanda Scott, Kellie Poole, Vickie Lamb, Donna Case, Deidra O’neal, LaDanna Stimpson,Paige Anderson, Vivian Rojas, Vicki Tucker, Terri Burnett, Kelly Patterson, Karen Hamill, Amanda Payne, Lisa Lusignolo, Marvin Peevey, Alice Shaffer, Norah Bronaugh, Samantha Abeyta. These wonderful people all helped deliver eggs for us and they are not even part of the foster program -Angelina Albia, Tami Fisher, Christina Alambar, Jenny Lowe, Chelsey Cagle and Lindsey Stevens. And of course my wonderful husband Dustin… he went to Walmart at 4 a.m. to get me more eggs and then decorated some yards while Tami and Lindsey helped me fill more eggs. It takes a team for sure LOL.”[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”33258″ img_size=”large” onclick=”link_image”][vc_column_text]What an inspiration and great sense of humor. For April’s sake, we all hope karma catches up to the thieves that stole her car and sold her phone. And we know karma will take care of April as she continues to do great work in the Falls. If you ever wonder what makes the difference between a successful non-profit and a not so successful non-profit- the answer is people like April Rhodes.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]